


Like Riding a Bike

by Taupefox59



Series: Flash Bang #1 - Bingo (Team Green) [24]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Child's POV, Flash Fic, Gen, Jace Wayland is a Lightwood, Lightwood Siblings Feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-26
Updated: 2018-04-26
Packaged: 2019-04-28 09:53:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14446722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Taupefox59/pseuds/Taupefox59
Summary: Max knows he's old enough to be out of the Institute by himself, and he's going to prove it to everyone.He just has to get past the end of the block first.For Bingo square #22 H/C





	Like Riding a Bike

**Author's Note:**

> Not beta'd. If you see anything, please let me know!

Max stared at the sidewalk outside of the New York Institute. He had a  _ plan _ . No one ever let him do anything fun, or go anywhere, and they all just told him that it was too dangerous and that he needed to stay at home, and it was stupid, because they didn’t  _ know! _

How could they possibly know what he could do if they never let him try anything?

He’d only just started training with a dagger, so he knew he still had to get better before he could go out and  _ really _ help, but he didn’t need to be watched  _ all the time _ !!! He would show them. He was old enough to be by himself. He was old enough to go places if he wanted to. He would go out, and come back, and then he’d show them all when nothing bad happened!

Max didn’t like it when people had to stay behind to look after him. He didn’t like making it so other people couldn’t do what they wanted to do because they had to stay with him. He didn’t need to be looked after. He could take care of himself perfectly fine.

Max looked to the end of the block and then back. The block wasn’t far enough. He could see the end of the block, and that was what they always told him. “Stay where we can see you, Max!”

He didn’t  _ need _ that. He could take care of himself.

But, if he was going to go farther than the block, he needed something faster than walking. If he was only walking, someone would be sure to see him and then tell on him, and then he wouldn’t ever be able to show them that he could do it all by himself.

He needed to go faster.

With a smile, Max went back into the Institute. No one ever paid attention to him when he was wandering  _ inside _ . Why did they care so much when he went wandering  _ outside _ ?

With a huff, he slipped through the halls of the Institute until he found the storage area where he knew they kept bicycles. They were perfect! Max wandered through the bicycles - there weren't that many of them - and he grabbed the smallest one. It nearly knocked him over when he walked it away from the stand, but then he just pushed back a little harder and it straightened out.

He took a shortcut through the courtyard to outside. He’d never ridden a bike before, but it couldn’t be that hard. He was a Shadowhunter!

Max swung his leg over the bike and settled into the seat of it. He had to lean a bit to one side to keep his toes touching the ground, but it was okay. He could do it.

He looked out at the end of the block again.

This was his chance.

He kind of ran along his toes for a bit, getting the bike to move forward, then he pushed off as hard as he could!

The last thing Max was ready for was the bike falling. He fell hard on the sidewalk, scraping his leg across the rough cement. It  _ hurt _ .

Max couldn’t cry though. He was a Shadowhunter, and he was old enough to do this. Even if he could feel the heat of his injury rising through his leg, and when he looked at his palms they were starting to bleed, where bits of gravel had stuck in his hands.

He was fine. He could do this. He wouldn’t cry. His clothes were torn, and his leg was tangled up in the chain of the bicycle, and he wasn’t sure how to get out of it. Everything was starting to hurt and his vision was starting to blur but he wasn’t going to cry!

It was then that he noticed a shadow coming over him. He looked up. Isabelle, Jace and Alec were all there.

Why was it suddenly so much harder not to cry? All he wanted to do was show them that they didn’t need to be there all the time…

“Hey, Max.” Alec said softly, bending down to help lift the bicycle of his youngest brother. “Are you okay?”

“I wanted to do it by myself.” Max said, not looking at any of them.

“Has anyone ever taught you how?” Isabelle asked, distracting Max while Alec helped him stand up.

“No.”

“Well, were you able to draw runes the first time all by yourself?” she continued

“No.”

“Because you needed someone to teach you.”

“I guess.” Max admitted, sullenly.

“Do you want to learn?” Alec asked.

“Yes.” Max said softly. 

“Well then. We’ll teach you.” He said with a smile. “Why don’t you come back in, we’ll get you cleaned up, and then all of us can go ride bikes together.”

Max looked up at his siblings. “All of us?”

“All of us.” Jace confirmed with a smile.

Max looked up at all of them and thought. He had wanted to do this by himself, but maybe, doing it with everyone could be just as good. A different kind of good. He smiled. “You’re going to teach me how.” He said, looking at his siblings.

“We sure are.” Alec said.

“Okay.” 

There were a lot of things Max knew he could do by himself. With the help of his family, riding a bicycle would be another.


End file.
